Banbury Constituency Labour Party

In last week’s autumn statement chancellor George Osborne said that councils would be able to increase council tax to pay for adult social care but Labour’s Sean Woodcock, says that this will not be enough to prevent removal of funding from Adult Day Centres in Banbury and Bicester.

Sean Woodcock says, “The impact of removing funding from Adult Day Centres, whether in receipt of services from the County or not, will be dramatic. There are currently seven County Council Health & Wellbeing Centres affected – Abingdon, Banbury, Bicester, Didcot, Oxford, Wallingford, Wantage and the Leonard Cheshire Centre in Banbury, – which alone provide 1250 places per week, many of whose clients suffer from dementia. 70% are self-funding and half have carers who get respite from full time care as a result.

In addition there are more than 50 voluntary centres throughout the County providing services to older adults and their carers, many of whom receive financial support from the County Council and whose funding is also under threat. Closure of these facilities, together with the cuts proposed in carers services will have a devastating impact on Adult Social Care within the community.”

Banbury & Bicester Labour Party believe that we have reached the point where the cuts can no longer be defended by anyone, let alone Oxfordshire County Council. We will campaign to oppose all the cuts currently under consultation and those resulting from the Tory Government’s failed austerity plans for local government outlined in the Autumn Statement.